Historic confirmation hearing for Sotomayor

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sonia Sotomayor takes the national spotlighttoday when Senate confirmation hearings begin on her nomination tobe the first Hispanic and just the third woman on the SupremeCourt. Democrats hold a comfortable majority on the Senate JudiciaryCommittee and a filibuster-resistant 60 votes in the Senate. Republicans are signaling that the process won't be a free ride. Sotomayor will tell her compelling up-from-poverty personalstory to a jury tilted strongly in her favor. Republicans say they will press the 55-year-old New Yorker andveteran federal judge to explain past rulings involvingdiscrimination complaints and gun rights. They'll also inquireabout comments that they say raise doubts about Sotomayor's abilityto judge cases fairly. Her defenders have portrayed her as a meticulous judge who hasstrictly followed the law in her 17 years on the federal bench.

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